Systems and methods for automatically collecting and analyzing data from industrial equipment

ABSTRACT

A method for automatically collecting and analyzing data from a plurality of industrial equipment includes automatically establishing communication between sensor nodes of the plurality of equipment and a walk-in device in response to the walk-in device entering a data collection area in a facility associated with the plurality of electrical equipment. The method also includes determining if the walk-in device is an authorized device to collect data from the plurality of industrial equipment and, in response to determining the walk-in device is an authorized device, automatically collecting select data from the plurality of industrial equipment on the walk-in device. The collected data is processed and one or more actions are performed based on the collected data.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/776,284, filed on Dec. 6, 2018 under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), which application is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to industrial equipment, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods related to automatically collectingand analyzing data from industrial equipment.

BACKGROUND

As is known, an industrial operation typically includes a plurality ofindustrial equipment. The industrial equipment can come in a variety offorms and may be of varying complexities, for example, depending on theindustrial operation. Additionally, in some instances the industrialequipment may be installed or located in a multitude of locations (e.g.,facilities or geographical locations). Data collected from theindustrial equipment may be processed by monitoring and collectionsites, for example, which are generally significant distances from thelocations in which the industrial equipment are installed. For example,wireless sensor networks (WSNs) may collect data from the industrialequipment in each of the respective locations in which the industrialequipment is installed, and transmit the collected data over the longhaul (e.g., communications networks spanning many miles) back to themonitoring and collection sites for processing.

The advantages of WSNs are well understood by many operators ofindustrial operations, although the cost of transmission for thewirelessly collected data over the long haul back to the monitoring andcollection sites may still prove prohibitive and prevent suchdeployments from returning on the investment as intended. For example,in some instances the locations in which the industrial equipment isinstalled are remote locations which do not possess (or possess verylimited) cellular (and other forms of data) reception. In these remotelocations, significant costs must be expended to build suitablecommunications networks (e.g., cell phone networks, telephone networks,etc.) to enable transmission of industrial equipment data. Often datacollection locally has low operational expense (aka opex) as there is noneed of a third party long haul provider (who has large infrastructurecosts they want to recover from building communications networks). It isthe combined cost of sensors and backhaul together that make thedecision to deploy difficult. Operators of wells might for instance likehaving sensors report to a base radio and be collected together locallyas this only needs a onetime capex (capital expense) expenditure, butthey may dislike having monthly opex for any technology needed for thatdata to be returned to them for centralization. Additionally, if theyalready deploy human visitors to industrial equipment sites orlocations, they further see this opex cost for backhaul as unnecessaryas they can instead have their staff collect the data manually.

SUMMARY

Described herein are systems and methods related to automaticallycollecting and analyzing data from industrial equipment, for example, toreduce costs and increase efficiencies associated with collecting andprocessing the data and taking actions (e.g., performing maintenance) inresponse to the data. The industrial equipment may be installed orlocated, for example, in a facility or facilities including a pluralityof industrial equipment. Additionally, the industrial equipment may beinstalled or located on a site or sites (i.e., not necessarily afacility) including a plurality of industrial equipment.

In one aspect, a method for automatically collecting and analyzing datafrom a plurality of industrial equipment includes automaticallyestablishing communication between sensor nodes of the plurality ofequipment and a “walk-in device”, for example, in response to thewalk-in device entering a data collection area (or areas) associatedwith the plurality of electrical equipment. The data collection area(s)may be located, for example, in a facility, facilities, or site(s) inwhich the plurality of industrial equipment are installed. Inembodiments, the communication is established using Bluetooth (such aslow energy Bluetooth), WiFi, Zigbee, or another communication protocol,for example.

The method also includes determining if the walk-in device is anauthorized device to collect data from the plurality of industrialequipment and, in response to determining the walk-in device is anauthorized device, automatically collecting select data from theplurality of industrial equipment on the walk-in device. The collecteddata may be processed, for example, to determine if maintenance (e.g.,software updates, calibration) needs to be, or is recommended to be,performed on one or more of the plurality of industrial equipment. Inresponse to determining maintenance needs or recommendations for one ormore of the plurality of industrial equipment, for example, it may bedetermined if the walk-in device is capable of performing themaintenance. In response to determining the walk-in device is capable ofperforming the maintenance (e.g., installing software updates orperforming calibration), the maintenance may be performed on theequipment using the walk-in device. Additionally, in response todetermining the walk-in device is incapable of performing themaintenance, the maintenance needs or recommendations may becommunicated, for example, through at least one of: a report, a text, anemail, audibly, and an interface of a screen/display.

It is understood that the collected data may be processed for many otherpurposes. For example, the collected data may be processed to identifyissues with one or more of the plurality of industrial equipment. Inresponse to identifying issues with one or more of the plurality ofindustrial equipment, it may be determined if the walk-in device iscapable of addressing the issues or if additional help is needed (e.g.,from a system operator). In response to determining the walk-in deviceis capable of addressing the issues (e.g., by adjusting one or moreparameters associated with the equipment), the issues may be addressedusing the walk-in device. Additionally, in response to determining thewalk-in device is incapable of addressing the issues, the issues may becommunicated, for example, through at least one of: a report, a text, anemail, audibly, and an interface of a screen/display.

In accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, the collecteddata is processed on the walk-in device. Additionally, in accordancewith some embodiments of this disclosure, the collected data may beprocessed by uploading the collected data from the walk-in device to acentral computing device (e.g., Edge gateway or other cloud computingdevice), and processing the collected data on the central computingdevice. In some embodiments, the collected data may be uploaded from thewalk-in device to the central computing device in response to thewalk-in device entering the data collection area(s) and/or data uploadarea(s), for example, in the facility, facilities or site(s) in whichthe industrial equipment is located. The data upload area(s) maycorrespond, for example, to specific area(s) in the facility, facilitiesor site(s) for uploading the collected data. In other embodiments, thecollected data may be uploaded in response to a button push or otherinteraction or gesture by a system operator, for example, in the datacollection area(s), data upload area(s) or another area. In someembodiments, the data collection area(s) and/or data upload area(s) mayinclude a base station (e.g., a docking station) that the walk-in deviceis capable of being communicatively coupled to (e.g., wirelessly orwired). The walk-in device may be configured to provide the collecteddata to the base station, for example, for uploading to the centralcomputing device.

In accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, the walk-indevice is configured to enter the data collection area(s) and/or thedata upload area(s) (which may be one in the same in some embodiments)after a predetermined time period, and/or in response to one or morepredetermined conditions. For example, the walk-in device may beconfigured or programmed to enter the data collection area(s) at selecttimes during the day, week, month, etc., for example, based known uptimeor downtime of the industrial equipment associated with the datacollection area(s). As another example, the walk-in device may enter thedata collection area(s) in response to an event (or events) occurring inthe facility, facilities or site(s) associated with the industrialequipment, such as a power outage that may impact operation of theindustrial equipment. It is understood that the walk-in device may enterthe data collection area(s) and/or the data upload area(s) in responseto many other conditions (predetermined or otherwise).

A walk-in device in accordance with embodiments of this disclosure caninclude, for example, a processor and a memory with computer codeinstructions stored thereon, for example, to enable automatic collectionand analysis of data from industrial equipment. In some embodiments, thewalk-in device may take the form of a mobile device, for example, adevice that may be carried by a system user, operator or maintenancepersonnel. Additionally, in some embodiments the walk-in device may takethe form of, or be integrated with, a robot, wheeled cart or vehicle,unmanned aerial vehicle (such as a drone) or similar device capable ofnavigating an industrial facility or operation. The device (e.g., therobot or unmanned aerial vehicle) may be an autonomous device in someembodiments.

The walk-in device can include or be coupled to one or more input/outputdevices, for example, to facilitate user interaction (e.g., to display afacility map, to enable a user to make a selection of an area orequipment on the facility map). As one example, the walk-in device caninclude an interactive touch screen input interface that acceptsgestures as input. As another example, the walk-in device can be coupledto a keyboard.

The walk-in device can also include or be coupled to one or moresensors, for example, for observing a facility, facilities or site(s)associated with the industrial equipment. For example, in one embodimentthe walk-in device may include one or more image capture devices (e.g.,cameras) capable of scanning or capturing one or more areas in afacility. In accordance with some embodiments, information may beextracted from images captured and provided to a system user, operatoror maintenance personnel, for example, using augmented reality (AR)technology. For example, the information extracted from the imagescaptured may include alerts and alarms related to industrial equipmentand be provided to the system user, operator or maintenance personnel inthe form of an overlay on the image capture, for example, on a displaydevice viewed by the system user, operator or maintenance personnel. Thedisplay device may include a display of the walk-in device (whenprovided with a display) and/or a display of another computing deviceaccessible by the system user, operator or maintenance personnel, forexample, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a handheld computer, atablet computer, a smart phone, and/or the like.

This video augmentation approach can add valuable and easy-to-use newdata forms and new highly informative representations of that data. Forinstance, a sensor could arrange for its value (say when in alarm) topaint a message in red (and green when not) over the area it is samplingwhen such an area comes into view from the tablet camera on the tabletscreen. This is known as “augmented reality”—where the readings arepreferably portrayed over the actual image of the real instrument in thelocation as viewed live through the camera and screen combination of thewalk-in device (e.g., tablet). The sensors need only know their ownlocation and report that to the walk-in device, which we have alreadyallowed for in the design of sensors provided in products by SchneiderElectric, for example. The walk-in device knows its own location, andfrom commonly deployed internal sensors all the angles of presentationof the camera (e.g. the compass heading, tilt, etc.). From this basicdata, the walk-in device constructs the Virtual Reality image of thatscene's actual image, say a well head or other process, with therelevant data overlaid on the same screen, as if “floating” over therelevant device or point.

It is understood that there are many additional advantages and aspectsassociated with the disclosed systems and methods, as will be furtherappreciated from the discussions below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing features of the disclosure, as well as the disclosureitself may be more fully understood from the following detaileddescription of the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an example industrial system in accordance with embodimentsof the disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another example industrial system in accordance withembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a further example industrial system in accordance withembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3A shows another example industrial system in accordance withembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3B shows a further example industrial system in accordance withembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3B shows a further example industrial system in accordance withembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows various aspects of an example implementation of anindustrial system in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an example method for automatically collecting andanalyzing data from industrial equipment in accordance with embodimentsof this disclosure;

FIG. 5A shows an example method for processing and taking actions inresponse to collected data, for example, data collected using the methodshown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 5B shows another example method for processing and taking actionsin response to collected data, for example, data collected using themethod shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 5C shows another example method for automatically collecting andanalyzing data from industrial equipment in accordance with embodimentsof this disclosure;

FIGS. 6 and 6A show an example application of the method shown in FIG.5C, for example; and

FIG. 7 shows an example configuration of a walk-in device in accordancewith embodiments of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The features and other details of the concepts, systems, and techniquessought to be protected herein will now be more particularly described.It will be understood that any specific embodiments described herein areshown by way of illustration and not as limitations of the disclosureand the concepts described herein. Features of the subject matterdescribed herein can be employed in various embodiments withoutdeparting from the scope of the concepts sought to be protected.

Referring to FIG. 1, an industrial system 100 in accordance withembodiments of the disclosure includes a plurality of industrialequipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190. The industrialequipment (or devices) 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 maybe associated with a particular application (e.g., an industrialapplication), applications, and/or process(es). The industrial equipment110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 may include electrical orelectronic equipment, for example, such as machinery (e.g., pumps,metering devices) in an industrial operation (e.g., a manufacturing ornatural resource extraction operation). The industrial equipment 110,120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 may also include the controlsand/or ancillary equipment associated with the industrial equipment 110,120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190, for example, Instruct AreaNetwork (IAN) devices by Schneider Electric. In embodiments, theindustrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 may beinstalled or located in one or more facilities (i.e., buildings) orother physical locations (i.e., sites) associated with an industrialoperation. The facilities may correspond, for example, to industrialbuildings. Additionally, the physical locations may correspond, forexample, to geographical areas or locations.

The industrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 mayeach include or be coupled to one or more sensors (or sensor nodes) insome embodiments. Each of the sensors (e.g., 111, shown in FIG. 1A, aswill be discussed further below) may be configured to sample, sense ormonitor one or more parameters (e.g., industrial parameters) associatedwith the industrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180,190 and/or the application(s) or process(es) associated with theindustrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190. Forexample, industrial equipment 110 may include or be coupled to atemperature sensor configured to sense temperature(s) associated withthe industrial equipment 110, for example, ambient temperature proximateto the industrial equipment 110, temperature of a process associatedwith the industrial equipment 110, temperature of a product produced bythe industrial equipment 110, etc. The industrial equipment 110 mayadditionally or alternatively include one or more pressure sensors, flowsensors, vibration sensors and/or any number of other sensors, forexample, associated the application(s) or process(es) associated withthe industrial equipment 110.

The industrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 maytake various forms and may each have an associated complexity (or set offunctional capabilities and/or features), and this may determine thetype and number of sensor(s) in or associated with the industrialequipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190, for example. Forexample, industrial equipment 110 may correspond to a “basic” industrialequipment, industrial equipment 120 may correspond to an “intermediate”industrial equipment, and industrial equipment 130 may correspond to an“advanced” industrial equipment. In such embodiments, intermediateindustrial equipment 120 may have more functionality (e.g., measurementfeatures and/or capabilities) than basic industrial equipment 110, andadvanced industrial equipment 130 may have more functionality and/orfeatures than intermediate industrial equipment 120. For example, inembodiments industrial equipment 110 (e.g., industrial equipment withbasic capabilities and/or features) may be capable of monitoring one ormore first characteristics of an industrial process, and industrialequipment 130 (e.g., industrial equipment with advanced capabilities)may be capable of monitoring one or more second characteristics of theindustrial process, with the second characteristics including the firstcharacteristics and one or more additional parameters. It is understoodthat this example is for illustrative purposes only, and likewise insome embodiments the industrial equipment 110, 120, 130, etc. may eachhave independent functionality.

As discussed in the Background section of this disclosure, datacollected from industrial equipment (such as industrial equipment 110,120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190) is generally processed bymonitoring and collection sites which are significant distances from thelocations in which the industrial equipment are installed. For example,wireless sensor networks (WSNs) may be installed in the locations (i.e.,facilities or sites), collect data from the industrial equipment, andtransmit the collected data over the long haul (e.g., communicationsnetworks spanning many miles) back to the monitoring and collectionsites for processing. As is understood, the costs associated withinstalling the WSNs and transmitting the collected data over the longhaul using a third party long haul provider (which has largeinfrastructure costs they want to recover) can be very high, and even becost prohibitive for some industrial operations (i.e., preventing themfrom adopting the general approach).

This uneconomic situation arises because of a number of factors. Forexample, sometimes simply there is no low cost sensor for the particularapplication (especially true if in hazardous areas)—particularly inupstream in oil and gas (O&G) wells where monitoring of low flow ratesof injected chemicals is hard to do economically simply due to thedifficulty in measurement of such low flows and therefore is verycostly. Additionally, in some instances there is no availableinfrastructure to off-load/backhaul the wireless data from anyconcentrator or base radio onwards to centralized collection, storage,and analysis. Building out an infrastructure may be significantlyprohibitive for many industrial operations. Further, even when the datais backhauled, the opex costs might be prohibitive (and have on-goingcosts like cellular and/or satellite monthly rates). The potentialclient may already have people physically visiting the site periodicallyand therefore they can ascertain the core functions or state of theapplication relatively cheaply and flexibly. In these cases the humanvisitor can perform readings of the plant values needed and record themon paper or in an application on a PC/tablet (any portable computer,including smart phones) for later transcription or downloading. However,this methodology can be error prone, which may be very costly anddangerous for an industrial operation.

The present invention seeks to address at least the foregoing issues,for example, by blending automation and radio technology with on-sitevisits in an economically advantaged, augmented way, as discussed inconnection with figures below.

Referring now to FIG. 2, in which like elements in FIG. 1 are shownhaving like reference designations, a system in accordance withembodiments of this disclosure includes a so-called “walk-in device”210. The walk-in device 210, which may include a processor and a memorydevice with computer instructions stored thereon, for example, asdiscussed further below in connection with FIG. 7, may becommunicatively coupled to the industrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140,150, 160, 170, 180, 190 for collecting data from industrial equipment110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 and performing one or moreother actions (e.g., maintenance, as will be discussed further below).

Referring also to FIGS. 3-3B, in accordance with embodiments of thisdisclosure, the walk-in device 210 may be automatically communicativelycoupled to the industrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170,180, 190, for example, in response to the walk-in device 210 entering adata collection area (or areas) in a facility, facilities or sites inwhich the industrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180,190 are located. In some embodiments, the data collection area (orareas) include or correspond to an area (or areas) proximate to theindustrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190, forexample, as indicated by reference designators 310, 320, 330, 340, 350,360, 370, 380, 390 in FIG. 3. Additionally, in some embodiments, thedata collection area (or areas) include or correspond to a designatedarea (or areas) in the facility, facilities or site(s) in which theindustrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 arelocated, for example, as indicated by reference designators 1310, 1320in FIG. 3A. Further, referring to FIG. 3B, in some embodiments the datacollection area (or areas) include or correspond to an area (or areas)proximate to select ones of the industrial equipment 120, 140, 160, 180(as indicated by reference designators 320, 340, 360, 380), and alsoinclude or correspond to a designated area (or areas) in the facility,facilities or site(s) in which the industrial equipment 110, 120, 130,140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 are located (as indicated by referencedesignators 1310, 1320).

Returning now to FIG. 2, in one embodiment the industrial equipment 110,120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 are communicatively coupled tothe walk-in device 210 using WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee and/or anothersuitable wireless technology in response to the walk-in device 210entering the data collection area(s). As noted in the Summary Section ofthis disclosure, the walk-in device 210 may take the form of a mobiledevice, for example, a device that may be carried by a system user,operator or maintenance personnel (e.g., into the collection area(s)).Additionally, the walk-in device 210 may take the form of, or beintegrated with, a robot, an unmanned aerial vehicle (such as a drone)or similar device capable of navigating an industrial facility oroperation (e.g., into the collection area(s)). The walk-in device 210may include suitable wireless technologies to enable communicativelycoupling with the industrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160,170, 180, 190. It is understood that one or more of the industrialequipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 may additionallyor alternatively be communicatively coupled to the walk-in device 210using one or more wired technologies (e.g., Ethernet) in someembodiments, for example, in embodiments in which the one or moreindustrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 do nothave a suitable connections or capabilities.

In accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, the walk-indevice 210 may be communicatively coupled to a central processing unit230 via the “cloud” 220, for example, for sharing data collected by theindustrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190. Insome embodiments, the walk-in device 210 may be directly communicativelycoupled to the cloud 220, as walk-in device 210 is in the illustratedembodiment. In other embodiments, the walk-in device 210 may beindirectly communicatively coupled to the cloud 220, for example,through an intermediate device, such as a cloud-connected hub (or agateway). The cloud-connected hub (or the gateway) may, for example,provide the walk-in device 210 with access to the cloud 220 and thecentral processing unit 230.

As used herein, the terms “cloud” and “cloud computing” are intended torefer to computing resources connected to the Internet or otherwiseaccessible to the walk-in device 210 via a communication network, whichmay be a wired or wireless network, or a combination of both. Thecomputing resources comprising the cloud 220 may be centralized in asingle location, distributed throughout multiple locations, or acombination of both. A cloud computing system may divide computing tasksamongst multiple racks, blades, processors, cores, controllers, nodes orother computational units in accordance with a particular cloud systemarchitecture or programming. Similarly, a cloud computing system maystore instructions and computational information in a centralized memoryor storage, or may distribute such information amongst multiple storageor memory components. The cloud system may store multiple copies ofinstructions and computational information in redundant storage units,such as a RAID array.

The central processing unit 230 may be an example of a cloud computingsystem, or cloud-connected computing system. In embodiments, the centralprocessing unit 230 may be a server located within buildings in whichthe industrial equipment are provided, or may be remotely-locatedcloud-based service. The central processing unit 230 may includecomputing functional components similar to those of the walk-in device210 some embodiments, but may generally possess greater numbers and/ormore powerful versions of components involved in data processing, suchas processors, memory, storage, interconnection mechanisms, etc. Thecentral processing unit 230 can be configured to implement a variety ofanalysis techniques to identify patterns in received data from thewalk-in device 210, as discussed further below. The various analysistechniques discussed herein further involve the execution of one or moresoftware functions, algorithms, instructions, applications, andparameters, which are stored on one or more sources of memorycommunicatively coupled to the central processing unit 230. In certainembodiments, the terms “function”, “algorithm”, “instruction”,“application”, or “parameter” may also refer to a hierarchy offunctions, algorithms, instructions, applications, or parameters,respectively, operating in parallel and/or tandem. A hierarchy maycomprise a tree-based hierarchy, such a binary tree, a tree having oneor more child nodes descending from each parent node, or combinationsthereof, wherein each node represents a specific function, algorithm,instruction, application, or parameter.

In embodiments, since the central processing unit 230 is connected tothe cloud 220, it may access additional cloud-connected devices ordatabases 240 via the cloud 220. For example, the central processingunit 230 may access the Internet and receive information such as weatherdata, utility pricing data, or other data that may be useful inanalyzing the data received from the walk-in device 210. In embodiments,the cloud-connected devices or databases 160 may correspond to a deviceor database associated with one or more external data sources.Additionally, in embodiments, the cloud-connected devices or databases160 may correspond to a user device from which a user may provide userinput data. A user may view information about the walk-in device 210and/or the industrial equipment (e.g., device make, model, type, etc.)and data collected by the walk-in device 210 and/or the industrialequipment using the user device. Additionally, in embodiments the usermay configure the walk-in device 210 and/or the industrial equipmentusing the user device.

In embodiments, by leveraging the cloud-connectivity and enhancedcomputing resources of the central processing unit 230 relative to thewalk-in device 210, sophisticated analysis can be performed on dataretrieved from the walk-in device 210, as well as on the additionalsources of data discussed above, when appropriate. This analysis can beused to dynamically control one or more parameters, processes,conditions or equipment (e.g., loads) associated with the industrialsystem.

In embodiments, the parameters, processes, conditions or equipment aredynamically controlled by a control system associated with theindustrial system. In embodiments, the control system may correspond toor include one or more of the industrial equipment, central processingunit 230 and/or other devices within or external to the industrialsystem.

It is understood that the system shown in FIG. 2 is but one or manypotential configurations of systems in accordance with embodiments ofthis disclosure. For example, in some embodiments the system may includeone or more intelligent points (e.g., computing devices with one or moreprocessors and memory devices) for pre-processing of data collected byindustrial equipment 110, 120, 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180, 190 beforethe data is received by the walk-in device 210. For example, referringbriefly to FIG. 4, in some embodiments industrial equipment may includeone or more sensor nodes (here, sensor nodes 410, 420, 430, 440, 450),with each of the sensor nodes configured to monitor or measure one ormore parameters. For example, sensor node 410 may be configured tomeasure pressure, sensor node 420 may be configured to measuretemperature, sensor node 430 may be configured to measure flow, sensornode 440 may be configured to measure vibration, and sensor node 440 maybe configured to measure one or more other parameters. Data collected byeach of the sensor nodes 410, 420, 430, 440, 450 (i.e., a cluster ofsensor nodes) may be provided to an intelligent point 460, for example,for pre-processing the collected data. For example, the intelligentpoint 460 may pre-process the collected data to determine one or morecomputed values, such as number of events occurring in the industrialsystem, duration(s), average value(s), maximum value(s), minimumvalue(s), waveforms, etc. In accordance with embodiments of thisdisclosure, the computed data (and any other pre-processed data) may beprovided to the walk-in device 210 for further processing, for example,to determine if maintenance (e.g., software updates, calibration) needsto be, or is recommended to be, performed on the industrial equipment,and/or to identify issues with one or more of the industrial equipment.

In accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, theconfiguration discussed above allows for the sensor nodes 410, 420, 430,440, 450 to be provided as “lower” end devices with limited capabilities(saving costs for customers). More particularly, by providing anintelligent point 460 with processing (or pre-processing) capabilities,the sensor nodes 410, 420, 430, 440, 450 do not need to perform any (ormay only perform limited) processing. In this regard, the sensor nodes410, 420, 430, 440, 450 can focus on monitoring or measuring respectiveparameters, leaving the processing (e.g., potentially resource intensiveprocessing) to the intelligent point 460 (and the walk-in device 210).

The above-discussed configuration may also allow for the sensor nodes410, 420, 430, 440, 450 to be provided as limited range devices, withthe ability to transmit data over shorter distances than is typicallyrequired of sensor devices in an industrial operation (saving costs forcustomers). For example, the sensor nodes 410, 420, 430, 440, 450 maytransmit data collected by the sensor nodes 410, 420, 430, 440, 450 tothe intelligent point 460 using low energy Bluetooth, and otherrelatively short range (and low power) wireless communicationtechnologies. The intelligent point 460 may then transmit data collectedfrom the sensor nodes 410, 420, 430, 440, 450, and pre-processed, to thewalk-in device 210 using longer range wireless communicationtechnologies, such as over WiFi and/or cellular networks, if necessary.

In accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, the sensor nodes410, 420, 430, 440, 450 may transmit data to the intelligent point 460,and the intelligent point 460 may transmit data to the walk-in device210, in a number of ways. For example, in some embodiments the sensornodes 410, 420, 430, 440, 450 may automatically transmit data to theintelligent point 460, and the intelligent point 460 may automaticallytransmit data to the walk-in device 210 (e.g., in response to thewalk-in device 210 being in a data collection area). Additionally, insome embodiments the data transmissions may occur at least in partthrough a manual process, for example, in response to user input. Forexample, in some embodiments a user may enable the transfer of data toand/or from the intelligent point 460 through the push of a button onthe intelligent point 460, through the push of a button (e.g., aphysical or virtual button) on a user device communicatively coupled tothe intelligent point 460, and/or through another suitable meansdepending on the application.

In accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, the push of abutton on the intelligent device 460 may be enabled by a pressing asurface (e.g., a top surface) of a first portion of the intelligentdevice 460 (e.g., a top piece of the device) towards a surface of asecond portion of the intelligence device 460 (e.g., a bottom piece ofthe device) to initiate (or simulate) a button press. Additionally, inaccordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, the data transferfunctionality of the intelligent point 460 may be initiated throughanother means, for example, a configuration in which one or moreportions or surfaces of the intelligent point 460 are pushed (orotherwise receive force) by a user to cause elements/components insidethe intelligent point 460 to trigger/initiate the data transferfunctionality. As one example, the user force may cause a sliding switchin the intelligent point 460 to move left to right, right to left and soforth, and in response thereto the data transfer functionality may beinitiated. This configuration may, for example, be particularly suitablein environments in which there is concern about exposure toenvironmental elements (e.g., liquids entering crevices associated withtraditional buttons on surface of devices). It is understood that theseare but a few of many potential ways in which data may be transferred,and data transfer functionality may be initiated. It is also understoodthat the data may be transferred in bulk or in a plurality of segments,for example, depending on the application and device capabilities.

While the illustrated embodiment is shown as including a singleintelligent point 460, it is understood that systems in accordance withembodiments of this disclosure may include a plurality of intelligentpoints in some embodiments. For example, a plurality of intelligentpoints may be dispersed throughout an industrial operation, for example,in a large building, throughout multiple buildings, and across a site(e.g., a field or fields including agricultural equipment spreadthroughout, a geographical area including utility equipment, etc.) toprovide the benefits discussed above. In one aspect, the plurality ofintelligent points may communicate with each other, for example, toshare/leverage processing capabilities and extend the range of operationof the system including a plurality of intelligent points. It isunderstood that other configurations are possible.

Referring to FIGS. 5-5C, flowcharts (or flow diagrams) are shown toillustrate example methods in accordance with embodiments of thisdisclosure, for example, for automatically collecting and analyzing datafrom industrial equipment. Rectangular elements (typified by element 510in FIG. 5), as may be referred to herein as “processing blocks,” mayrepresent computer software and/or algorithm instructions or groups ofinstructions. Diamond shaped elements (typified by element 505 in FIG.5), as may be referred to herein as “decision blocks,” representcomputer software and/or algorithm instructions, or groups ofinstructions, which affect the execution of the computer software and/oralgorithm instructions represented by the processing blocks. Theprocessing blocks and decision blocks (and other blocks shown) canrepresent steps performed by functionally equivalent circuits such as adigital signal processor circuit or an application specific integratedcircuit (ASIC).

The flowcharts do not depict the syntax of any particular programminglanguage. Rather, the flowcharts illustrate the functional informationone of ordinary skill in the art requires to fabricate circuits or togenerate computer software to perform the processing required of theparticular apparatus. It should be noted that many routine programelements, such as initialization of loops and variables and the use oftemporary variables are not shown. It will be appreciated by those ofordinary skill in the art that unless otherwise indicated herein, theparticular sequence of blocks described is illustrative only and can bevaried. Thus, unless otherwise stated, the blocks described below areunordered; meaning that, when possible, the blocks can be performed inany convenient or desirable order including that sequential blocks canbe performed simultaneously and vice versa. It will also be understoodthat various features from the flowcharts described below may becombined in some embodiments. Thus, unless otherwise stated, somefeatures from the flowcharts described below may be combined with otherfeatures of the flowchart described below, for example, to capture thevarious advantages and aspects of systems and methods associated withautomatically collecting and analyzing data from industrial equipmentsought to be protected by this disclosure. It is also understood thatvarious features from the flowcharts described below may be separated insome embodiments. For example, while the flowcharts are shown havingmany blocks, in some embodiments the illustrated methods shown by theflowcharts may include fewer blocks or steps.

Referring to FIG. 5, a flowchart illustrates an example method 500 forautomatically collecting and analyzing data from industrial equipment,for example, a plurality of industrial equipment. The plurality ofindustrial equipment may be provided in a facility, or be distributedover multiple facilities or sites associated with an industrialoperation, as a few examples. Method 500 may be implemented, forexample, on a processor associated with the industrial operation, forexample, on a processor of a walk-in device (e.g., 210, shown in FIG. 2)or on a processor of another computing device associated with theindustrial operation.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the method 500 begins at block 505, where itis determined if the walk-in device is in a data collection area (orareas) of a facility, facilities or site(s) in which the plurality ofindustrial equipment is provided. As discussed above, the datacollection area(s) may correspond to a designated area (or areas) in afacility or geographic area for collecting data from one or more of theplurality of equipment. As also discussed above, each piece of equipmentmay have its own respective data collection area (or areas) in someembodiments, or may share its data collection area(s) with other devicesin other embodiments. In embodiments, the walk-in device may enter thedata collection area(s) autonomously, semi-autonomously, or manually(e.g., when the walk-in device is carried by a system operator).

In accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, the determination ofwhether the walk-in device is in a data collection area (or areas) mayoccur in a number of different ways. For example, in some embodimentsthe walk-in device may ping a base station (or stations) in the datacollection area(s) to indicate its presence in the data collectionarea(s), and from this it may be determined that the walk-in device isin the data collection area(s). Additionally, in some embodiments thewalk-in device may temporarily couple to the base station(s) in the datacollection area(s) upon entering the data collection area(s), and thisact may indicate that the walk-in device is in the data collectionarea(s). The walk-in device can also scan for broadcast messages, forexample, from industrial equipment (and their sensor node(s)) in, near,or associated with the data collection area(s), and/or from anintelligent point (such as intelligent point 460, shown in FIG. 4).Detection of the broadcast messages can, for example, be indicative ofthe walk-in device being in (or, in some instances near) the datacollection area(s).

If it is determined that the walk-in device is a data collection area(or areas), the method may proceed to block 510. Alternatively, if it isdetermined that the walk-in device is not in a data collection area (orareas), the method may return to block 505 or end in some embodiments.

At block 510, communication is automatically established between sensors(or sensor nodes) of the plurality of equipment associated with the datacollection area(s) in which the walk-in device's presence is detected,and the walk-in device. In accordance with embodiments of thisdisclosure, the communication may be automatically established usingBluetooth (such as low energy Bluetooth), WiFi, Zigbee and/or otherwireless technologies. Establishing of communication using wirelesstechnologies is well known in the art, and thus is not described indetail herein.

At block 515, it is determined if the walk-in device is an authorizeddevice for accessing data from the industrial equipment associated withthe data collection area(s). In accordance with embodiments of thedisclosure, the determination is made using one or more authenticationmechanisms. The authenticated mechanism may include, for example,Bluetooth pairing, Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP), and otherauthentication mechanisms well known in the art. If it is determinedthat the walk-in device is an authorized device, the method may proceedto block 520. Alternatively, if it is determined that the walk-in deviceis not an authorized device, the method may return to block 505 or endin some embodiments.

At block 520, the walk-in device automatically collects select data fromthe industrial equipment for which the walk-in device is authorized tocollect data, as determined at block 515. The select data maycorrespond, for example, to data needed for diagnosing issues with theindustrial equipment and/or for determining maintenance (e.g., softwareupdates, calibration) required or recommended for the industrialequipment.

At block 525, the collected data is processed. In accordance with someembodiments of this disclosure, the collected data is processed on thewalk-in device. Additionally, in accordance with some embodiments ofthis disclosure, the collected data may be processed on anothercomputing device (e.g., Edge gateway or other cloud computing device),for example, in response to the walk-in device transmitting thecollected data (or data indicative of the collected data) to the othercomputer device.

In some embodiments, the collected data may be uploaded from the walk-indevice to the other computing device automatically in the datacollection area(s), or in response to the walk-in device entering adesignated data upload area (or areas). As discussed above, the datacollection area(s) and the data upload area(s) may be one in the same insome embodiments, and/or overlap in some embodiments.

In other embodiments, the collected data may be uploaded in response toa button push or other interaction or gesture by a system operator, forexample, in the data collection area(s), data upload area(s) or anotherarea.

More details related to example ways in which the collected data may beprocessed (i.e., analyzed) on the walk-in device and/or the othercomputing device are discussed in connection with FIGS. 5A and 5B, forexample.

At block 530, one or more actions are taken or performed based on theprocessing (i.e., analysis) occurring at block 525. For example, asdiscussed further below in connection with FIG. 5A, maintenance may beperformed on one or more of the industrial equipment in someembodiments. As another example, issues with the industrial equipmentand/or the industrial operation associated with the industrial operationmay be corrected and/or reported, as discussed further below inconnection with FIG. 5B.

Subsequent to block 530, the method 500 may end in some embodiments. Inother embodiments, the method 500 may return to block 505 and repeatagain. In some embodiments in which the method ends after block 530, themethod may be initiated again, for example, in response to the walk-indevice re-entering the data collection area(s) for which data waspreviously collected, and/or in response to the walk-in device enteringother data collection area(s).

It is understood that method 530 may include one or more additionalblocks in some embodiments.

Referring now to FIG. 5A, another example method in accordance withembodiments of this disclosure is shown. The method 1500 may, forexample, correspond to example steps performed at blocks 525 and 530 ofmethod 500 discussed above in connection with FIG. 5.

As illustrated in FIG. 5A, the method 1500 begins at block 1505, wherecollected data (e.g., data collected at block 520 of method 500) isprocessed to determine if maintenance needs to be, or should be,performed on one or more industrial equipment. As one example, thecollected data may be analyzed to determine if software on theindustrial equipment is up-to-date. As another example, the collecteddata may be analyzed to determine if calibration of the industrialequipment is recommended or required. For example, calibration may berecommended after a predetermined time period or usage (e.g., usagehours) of the industrial equipment.

If it is determined that maintenance needs to be, or should be,performed on one or more industrial equipment, the method may proceed toblock 1510. Alternatively, if it is determined that maintenance is notrequired or recommended for the industrial equipment, the method may endor return to block 1505 (e.g., in response to receiving more data).

At block 1510, it is determined if the walk-in device is capable ofperforming the maintenance. If it is determined that the walk-in deviceis capable of performing the maintenance, the method may proceed toblock 1515. Alternatively, if it is determined that the walk-in deviceis not capable of performing the maintenance, the method may proceed toblock 1520.

At block 1515, the walk-in device takes steps to perform themaintenance. For example, in embodiments in which it is determined thatsoftware on the industrial equipment is not up-to-date, the walk-indevice may access the latest software and transmit the latest softwareto the industrial equipment. The latest software may be accessed, forexample, from a memory device of the walk-in device and/or one or moreexternal devices. In embodiments in which it is determined thatcalibration is recommended or required, the walk-in device may stepthrough a calibration process or procedure with the industrial equipmentto calibrate the industrial equipment. Similar to the software, thecalibration process may be accessed from a memory device of the walk-indevice and/or one or more external devices. The steps to perform themaintenance may be occur (and be customized) for each piece ofindustrial equipment for which maintenance is required or recommended.Additionally, the order in which maintenance is performed on theequipment (e.g., equipment A vs. equipment B) may be based on a numberof factors, for example, priority, cost and time to perform themaintenance.

At block 1520, in response to it being determined that the walk-indevice is not capable of performing the maintenance, informationassociated with the maintenance may be communicated. For example, theinformation may be communicated to an end-user, equipment manufacturer,services team and/or other interested individual or party. Thecommunication may include, for example, at least one of: a report, atext, an email, audibly, and an interface of a screen/display (e.g., adisplay device of a computing device or system associated with theindustrial system). The report, text, etc. may present the severity andpriority of the maintenance required or recommended, for example.Additionally, the report, text, etc. may provide information related tocosts (e.g., monetary and opportunity costs) associated with therequired or recommended maintenance, and/or actionable recommendationsfor responding to the required or recommended maintenance.

Subsequent to block 1520 (and 1515), the method 1500 may end in someembodiments. In other embodiments, the method 1500 may return to block1505 and repeat again, for example, in response to more data beingcollected from the industrial equipment.

Referring now to FIG. 5B, another example method in accordance withembodiments of this disclosure is shown. The method 2500, similar tomethod 1500, may correspond to example steps performed at blocks 525 and530 of method 500 discussed above in connection with FIG. 5. In someembodiments the method 2500 may be performed alone or in combinationwith method 1500 and other methods disclosed herein, for example.

As illustrated in FIG. 5B, the method 2500 begins at block 2505, wherecollected data (e.g., data collected at block 520 of method 500) isprocessed to determine if there are any issues with one or moreindustrial equipment or an industrial operation associated with theindustrial equipment. As one example, the collected data may be analyzedto determine if any components in the industrial equipment have failed,or are about to fail (e.g., based on predictive failure analysis). Asanother example, the collected data may be analyzed to identify patternsin collected data, for example, from two or more of the industrialequipment, to identify issues (or potential issues) with an industrialoperation associated with the industrial equipment.

If it is determined that there are issues with the industrial equipmentand/or the industrial operation, the method may proceed to block 2510.Alternatively, if it is determined that there are no issues with theindustrial equipment and/or the industrial operation, the method may endor return to block 2505 (e.g., in response to receiving more data).

At block 2510, it is determined if the walk-in device is capable ofaddressing the issues. If it is determined that the walk-in device iscapable of addressing the issues, the method may proceed to block 2515.Alternatively, if it is determined that the walk-in device is notcapable of addressing the issues, the method may proceed to block 2520.

At block 2515, the walk-in device takes steps to addressing the issues.For example, in embodiments in which it is determined that components inthe industrial equipment have failed, or are about to fail, the walk-indevice may adjust one or more parameters in the industrial equipmentand/or the industrial operation, for example, to extend the life of thecomponents. For example, the walk-in device may activate one or morecooling components (or otherwise adjust temperature) in the industrialoperation if it is determined that component failure is due to excesstemperatures. Additionally or alternatively, the walk-in device maylocate or order replacement components for the industrial equipment. Inembodiments in which the walk-in device takes the form a robot, forexample, the walk-in device may sometimes be capable of replacing thecomponents in the industrial equipment and/or installing a mitigativedevice (or devices). It is understood that the above example is but manypotential example ways in which the walk-in device may take steps toaddress the issues. For example, as one further example, a state (e.g.,an on/off state) of the industrial equipment may be controlled by thewalk-in device in some embodiments.

At block 2520, in response to it being determined that the walk-indevice is not capable of addressing the issues, information associatedwith the issues may be communicated. For example, the information may becommunicated to an end-user, equipment manufacturer, services teamand/or other interested individual or party. The communication mayinclude, for example, at least one of: a report, a text, an email,audibly, and an interface of a screen/display. The report, text, etc.may present the severity and priority of the issues, for example.Additionally, the report, text, etc. may provide information related tocosts (e.g., monetary and opportunity costs) associated with the issues,and/or actionable recommendations for responding to the issues.

Subsequent to block 2520 (and 2515), the method 2500 may end in someembodiments. In other embodiments, the method 2500 may return to block2505 and repeat again, for example, in response to more data beingcollected from the industrial equipment.

Referring to FIG. 5C, a flowchart illustrates another example method3500 for automatically collecting and analyzing data from industrialequipment, for example, a plurality of industrial equipment. Inaccordance with embodiments of this disclosure, the method 3500 may beimplemented alone or in combination with method 500, 1500 and 2500, forexample.

As illustrated in FIG. 5C, the method 3500 begins at block 3505, whereone or more areas of a facility, facilities, or site(s) are captured,for example, by one or more image capture devices of or associated witha walk-in device in accordance with embodiments of this disclosure. Insome embodiments, the areas are automatically captured or are capturedin response to user input. In one example implementation, the walk-indevice may automatically capture the areas in response to determining ordetecting that industrial equipment exists in the areas. For example,the walk-in device may detect the presence of industrial equipment inresponse to receiving communication broadcasts from the industrialequipment (e.g., in response to the walk-in device entering a datacollection area), and/or using one or more object detection techniques.In another example implementation, the walk-in device may capture theareas in response to a user pointing the image capture device(s) of thewalk-in device toward the areas, and/or in response to voice commandsreceived from the user (e.g., “capture this area”).

At block 3510, information is extracted from the image(s) captured bythe walk-in device. For example, one or more object detection techniquesmay be used to identify particular industrial equipment in the area(s)associated with the image(s) captured. For example, an object libraryincluding characteristics (e.g., dimensions, device type, etc. ofvarious industrial equipment may be accessed and compared with objectsin the image(s) to identify the industrial equipment. Thecharacteristics may include, for example, dimensions, color, make,model, etc. of the industrial equipment. Referring briefly to FIG. 6,the object detection techniques and, in some instances, broadcast data,may be used to determine that object 610 is a transformer coupled to autility pole. Additional characteristics associated with thetransformer, such as make, model, and location of the transformer, aswell as status information, for example, may further be extracted fromthe image(s) and/or other forms of data, such as data collected fromsensor nodes associated with the transformer. The status information mayinclude alerts and alarms, for example, indicative of object uptime,downtime, component failures, etc.

At block 3515, the image(s) captured and the extracted information arepresented on a display device. In accordance with some embodiments ofthis disclosure, the extracted information is overlayed on the image(s)captured using augmented reality (AR) technology. For example, referringbriefly to FIGS. 6 and 6A, information extracted from the image shown inFIG. 6 (and information from other forms of data) may be overlayed onthe image to provide the image shown in FIG. 6A. In the illustratedexample, the transformer type, location and status information isprovided. It is understood that many other types of information (e.g.,from the image capture and data obtained by the walk-in device) may beprovided. In accordance with some embodiments of this disclosure, thedisplay device on which the image is displayed includes, or correspondsto, a display of the walk-in device. In other embodiments, the displaydevice may correspond to a display of a user device, for example, thatis communicatively coupled to the walk-in device. AR technology is wellknown in the art and, thus is not described in detail herein.

Subsequent to block 3515, the method may end in some embodiments. Inother embodiments, the method 3500 may return to block 3505 and repeatagain, for example, to identify further industrial equipment.

In some embodiments, the method 3500 may include one or more additionalsteps. For example, in some embodiments, the method 3500 may includevalidation of the information extracted and presented. A user may, forexample, validate the information through one or more user inputs (e.g.,commands) on a user input device. For example, the user may confirm thatthe type and location of the industrial equipment is correct and, ifnot, manually provide the correct information. The correct informationmay then be presented on the display device (e.g., overlayed on theimage(s)). It is understood that other additional or alternative stepsare of course possible.

Referring to FIG. 7, an example walk-in device 700 that may be suitablefor use with the industrial systems shown in FIGS. 1-4, and implementingone or more of the above-discussed methods, for example, includes acontroller 710, a memory device 715, storage 725, and an interface 730.The walk-in device 700 also includes an input-output (I/O) port 735, asensor 740, a communication module 745, and an interconnection mechanism720 for communicatively coupling two or more walk-in device components710-745.

The memory device 715 may include volatile memory, such as DRAM or SRAM,for example. The memory device 715 may store programs and data collectedduring operation of the walk-in device 700. For example, in embodimentsin which the walk-in device 700 is configured to monitor and/or collectdata from industrial equipment (e.g., 110, shown in FIG. 1), the memorydevice 715 may store the monitored and/or collected data.

The storage system 725 may include a computer readable and writeablenonvolatile recording medium, such as a disk or flash memory, in whichsignals are stored that define a program to be executed by thecontroller 710 or information to be processed by the program. Thecontroller 710 may control transfer of data between the storage system725 and the memory device 715 in accordance with known computing anddata transfer mechanisms. In embodiments, the data monitored and/orcollected by the walk-in device 700 may be stored in the storage system725.

The I/O port 735 can be used to couple external devices, such as sensordevices (e.g., temperature and/or motion sensor devices) and/or userinput devices (e.g., local or remote computing devices) (not shown), tothe walk-in device 700. The external devices may be local or remotedevices, for example, a gateway (or gateways). The I/O port 735 mayfurther be coupled to one or more user input/output mechanisms, such asbuttons, displays, acoustic devices, etc., to provide alerts (e.g., todisplay a visual alert, such as text and/or a steady or flashing light,or to provide an audio alert, such as a beep or prolonged sound) and/orto allow user interaction with the walk-in device 700.

The sensor 740, which may take the form of a camera or other sensor(s)suitable for the application(s) in which the walk-in device 700 is used,may measure or capture information associated with industrial equipmentand/or an industrial operation, for example. In embodiments, theinformation (or select portions of the information) may be communicatedusing the communication module 745. The communication module 745 may beconfigured to couple the walk-in device 700 to one or more other devices(e.g., industrial equipment) and external communication networks. Thesenetworks may be private networks within a building in which the walk-indevice 700 is located, or public networks, such as the Internet. Inembodiments, the communication module 745 may also be configured tocouple the walk-in device 700 to a cloud-connected hub, or to acloud-connected central processing unit (e.g., 230, shown in FIG. 2),associated with an industrial system.

The walk-in device controller 710 may include one or more processorsthat are configured to perform specified function(s) of the walk-indevice 700. The processor(s) can be a commercially available processor,such as the well-known Pentium™, Core™, or Atom™ class processorsavailable from the Intel Corporation, or Advanced RISC Machines (ARM)processors by Silicon Labs. Many other processors are available,including programmable logic controllers. The walk-in device controller710 can execute an operating system to define a computing platform onwhich application(s) associated with the walk-in device 700 can run.

In embodiments, the data monitored and/or collected by the walk-indevice 700 may be received at an input of the controller 710 as walk-indevice input data, and the controller 710 may process the monitoredand/or collected data to generate walk-in device output data or signalsat an output thereof. In embodiments, the walk-in device output data orsignals may correspond to an output of the walk-in device 700. Thewalk-in device output data or signals may be provided at I/O port(s)735, for example. In embodiments, the walk-in device output data orsignals may be received by a cloud-connected central processing unit,for example, for further processing (e.g., to identify maintenanceissues or needs of industrial equipment, as briefly discussed above),and/or by equipment to which the walk-in device is coupled (e.g., forcontrolling one or more parameters associated with the industrialequipment, as will be discussed further below). In one example, thewalk-in device 700 may include an interface 730 for displayingvisualizations indicative of the walk-in device output data or signals.The interface 730 may correspond to a graphical user interface (GUI) inembodiments.

Components of the walk-in device 700 may be coupled together by theinterconnection mechanism 720, which may include one or more busses,wiring, or other electrical connection apparatus. The interconnectionmechanism 720 may enable communications (e.g., data, instructions, etc.)to be exchanged between system components of the walk-in device 700.

It is understood that walk-in device 700 is but one of many potentialconfigurations of walk-in devices in accordance with various aspects ofthe disclosure. For example, walk-in devices in accordance withembodiments of the disclosure may include more (or fewer) componentsthan walk-in device 700. Additionally, in embodiments one or morecomponents of walk-in device 700 may be combined. For example, inembodiments memory 715 and storage 725 may be combined.

It is also understood that the systems and methods disclosed herein havemany advantages and aspects. For example, as discussed above inconnection with FIG. 5C, for example, it is contemplated that the camera(i.e., image capture device) of a walk-in device (tablet, etc.) may beused, for example, to “scan” an industrial facility or site beforeleaving. Such a scan can be video-recorded easily. But, moreimportantly, such a scan can have alerts and alarms overlaid on theimage for humans to see trouble spots—literally labelled over the videoimage in front of their eyes.

This video augmentation approach can add valuable and easy-to-use newdata forms and new highly informative representations of that data. Forinstance a sensor could arrange for its value (say when in alarm) topaint a message in red (and green when not) over the area it is samplingwhen such an area comes into view from the tablet camera on the tabletscreen. This is known as “augmented reality”—where the readings arepreferably portrayed over the actual image of the real instrument in thelocation as viewed live through the camera and screen combination of thetablet (et al.). The sensors need only know their own location andreport that to the tablet, which we have already allowed for in thedesign of our sensors. The tablet knows its own location, and fromcommonly deployed internal sensors all the angles of presentation of thecamera (e.g. the compass heading, tilt, etc.). From these basic data thetablet or PC constructs the Virtual Reality image of that scene's actualimage, say a well head or other process, with the relevant data overlaidon the same screen, as if “floating” over the relevant device or point.

It is also contemplated that Inventory management can be done using thesystems and methods disclosed herein. For example, sensors reporting inare implicitly telling the walk-in device (e.g., operator's tablet) thatthey are alive, well, and operating, and also that the process-pointwhich they are monitoring is at a certain status (so much fluid remainsin a tank for instance).

In addition the information is physically secure as it never leaves theimmediate vicinity unless within the secure tablet/PC (Bluetooth orWi-Fi power is low so range is low)—the data can be operationally oreven cryptographically secured. “Operationally secure” means that eventhe operator walking in, might not be allowed to read the results(avoids collusion and fraud for instance).

The health of the sensors themselves can be reported to the operator andusing a tally of expected reports. Any that do not occur can be flaggedsuch that the operator can investigate and possibly take correctiveaction in the same visit—avoiding returns and extra expense.

In summary, in one aspect the human operator may be as before with allthe flexibility and adaptability that represents—but now their timelooking into items better covered by automation is saved and well spent,in addition mistakes and omissions are avoided, alarms are automatic,data transfer is complete and secure and costs are very low. Such humanoperator staff can visit more sites in the same time as they did beforewhen using purely manual visits. Augmentation of the human reportingvisit retains the best of both worlds—the flexible fully human visit,and the infallible but expensive fully detailed automatic setup.

As illustrated throughout this disclosure, the present invention mayblend automation and radio technology with on-site visits in aneconomically advantaged, augmented way. In one example implementation,this is done by having radio-connected sensors at the site—but does notrequire any backhaul of them. Instead their controlling base radiosenses the arrival or appearance of a human operator/visitor (or his/herequipment) to the site and reports in to his/her personally carried-inequipment automatically. The sensors or base radios preferably storedata for whatever durations are necessary until this visit occurs. Thatis they preferably retain and secure data until a verified PC/tablet ison site that is authorized to collect the data, and they preferablyverify it has been correctly relayed before erasing any data.

Further it becomes possible that when a human operator does visit thesite, application data preferably can be sent to his/her PC/tablet (orwalk-in device) even without their involvement. This has manyadvantages. For example, maintenance staff no longer need worry aboutforgetting to read a value (regardless of distractions, weather oraccessibility), because the sensor/base radio automatically discoverswhen there's a visit and downloads its own history into the human'sPC/tablet without action on the part of the visiting member of staff—andalso it can verify this is acceptable before releasing the storage ofthat record. Transfer is a transacted process—avoiding accidental lossof data.

It is understood that a human can easily read the values they knowabout—but what if new gear was installed (potentially by a third party)and the human operator has simply not been informed yet? Under theapproaches disclosed herein, the augmented read from those new sensorsmay be automatically added to the others and they all log themselves as“new” into the tablet/PC (or walk-in device), with their relevant datasent additionally and automatically.

Another example advantage is the disclosed augmented approach avoidserrors in the readings—no mistakes of misreading gauges, etc. Thesensors read values without errors and report without makingtranscription mistakes as human staff are wont to do. A further exampleadvantage is costs are extremely low and there are no added ongoingcosts (no opex). The visiting operator can be informed by such a system(e.g., walk-in device) of needed maintenance or emergency repairs assoon as they arrive and are detected as present on site. In addition,the cost of the visit is further lowered as the time spent on site isitself lowered and mistakes avoided (no need for follow-up visits onerrors).

Another example advantage is the time for the operator to perform thereadings on-site is reduced. This approach blends the flexibility andlow cost of human visits for these types of installations, with theautomation and error-free reporting of full wireless solutions.

In accordance with embodiments of this disclosure, the approach incurspractically no added cost over the regular WSN local collection of dataas the discovery and download to the human staff's walk-in device(tablet, etc.) uses the same wireless (potentially) or another low costseparate wireless connection with little or no added hardware devices.

As described above and as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skillin the art, embodiments of the disclosure herein may be configured as asystem, method, or combination thereof. Accordingly, embodiments of thepresent disclosure may be comprised of various means including hardware,software, firmware or any combination thereof.

It is to be appreciated that the concepts, systems, circuits andtechniques sought to be protected herein are not limited to use in theexample applications described herein (e.g., industrial applications)but rather, may be useful in substantially any application where it isdesired to automatically collect and analyze data from device orequipment.

Having described preferred embodiments, which serve to illustratevarious concepts, structures and techniques that are the subject of thispatent, it will now become apparent to those of ordinary skill in theart that other embodiments incorporating these concepts, structures andtechniques may be used. Additionally, elements of different embodimentsdescribed herein may be combined to form other embodiments notspecifically set forth above

Accordingly, it is submitted that that scope of the patent should not belimited to the described embodiments but rather should be limited onlyby the spirit and scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a facility including a plurality of industrialequipment, a method for automatically collecting and analyzing data fromthe plurality of industrial equipment, the method including:automatically establishing communication between sensor nodes of theplurality of equipment and a walk-in device in response to the walk-indevice entering a data collection area in the facility associated withthe plurality of electrical equipment; determining if the walk-in deviceis an authorized device to collect data from the plurality of industrialequipment; in response to determining the walk-in device is anauthorized device, automatically collecting select data from theplurality of industrial equipment on the walk-in device; processing thecollected data; and performing one or more actions based on thecollected data.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing thecollected data includes processing the collected data to determine ifmaintenance needs to be performed on one or more of the plurality ofindustrial equipment.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein processing thecollected data to determine if maintenance needs to be performed on oneor more of the plurality of industrial equipment includes: uploading tothe collected data from the walk-in device to a central computingdevice; and processing the collected data on the central computingdevice to determine if maintenance needs to be performed on one or moreof the plurality of industrial equipment.
 4. The method of claim 3,wherein the collected data is uploaded from the from the walk-in deviceto the central computing device in response to the walk-in deviceentering the data collection area in the facility.
 5. The method ofclaim 4, wherein the data collection area includes a base station thatthe walk-in device is capable of being communicatively coupled to, andthe walk-in device is configured to provide the collected data to thebase station for uploading to the central computing device.
 6. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising: in response to determiningmaintenance needs to be performed, determining if the walk-in device iscapable of performing the maintenance; and in response to determiningthe walk-in device is capable of performing the maintenance, performingthe maintenance on the one or more of the plurality of industrialequipment that needs maintenance, wherein the maintenance corresponds toat least one of the one or more actions performed based on the collecteddata.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein performing the maintenance onthe one or more of the plurality of industrial equipment includesinstalling software updates on the one or more of the plurality ofindustrial equipment.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein performing themaintenance on the one or more of the plurality of industrial equipmentincludes calibrating the one or more of the plurality of industrialequipment.
 9. The method of claim 6, further comprising: in response todetermining the walk-in device is not capable of performing the requiredor recommended maintenance, communicating the required or recommendedmaintenance to end-user, equipment manufacturer, and/or services team.10. The method of claim 9, wherein the required or recommendedmaintenance is prioritized in the communication based on at least one ofseverity and cost.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the communicationprovides actionable recommendations for responding to the required orrecommended maintenance.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the walk-indevice is configured to enter the data collection area in the facilityafter a predetermined time period, and/or in response to one or morepredetermined conditions.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein thepredetermined time period is a user configured time period, and thepredetermined conditions are user configured conditions.
 14. A walk-indevice for automatically collecting and analyzing data from a pluralityof industrial equipment, the walk-in device comprising: a processor; anda memory device coupled to the processor, the processor and the memorydevice configured to: automatically establish communication betweensensor nodes of the plurality of equipment and the walk-in device inresponse to the walk-in device entering a data collection area in afacility, facilities or site(s) associated with the plurality ofelectrical equipment; determine if the walk-in device is an authorizeddevice to collect data from the plurality of industrial equipment; inresponse to determining the walk-in device is an authorized device,automatically collect select data from the plurality of industrialequipment on the walk-in device; process the collected data; and performone or more actions based on the collected data.
 15. The walk-in deviceof claim 14, wherein the collected data is processed to determine ifmaintenance needs to be performed on one or more of the plurality ofindustrial equipment.
 16. The walk-in device of claim 15, wherein theprocessor and the memory device are further configured to: in responseto determining maintenance needs to be performed, determine if thewalk-in device is capable of performing the maintenance; and in responseto determining the walk-in device is capable of performing themaintenance, perform the maintenance on the one or more of the pluralityof industrial equipment that needs maintenance, wherein the maintenancecorresponds to at least one of the one or more actions performed basedon the collected data.
 17. The walk-in device of claim 16, wherein themaintenance performed includes at least one of: installing softwareupdates on the one or more of the plurality of industrial equipment andcalibrating the one or more of the plurality of industrial equipment.18. The walk-in device of claim 14, further comprising: one or moreimage capture devices, the image capture devices configured to scan orcapture one or more areas of the facility, facilities or site(s)associated with the plurality of electrical equipment.
 19. The walk-indevice of claim 18, wherein the processor and the memory device arefurther configured to: extract information from images captured by theimage capture devices; and present the images captured and the extractedinformation on a display device.
 20. The walk-in device of claim 19,wherein the extracted information includes alerts and alarms related tothe plurality of industrial equipment.
 21. The walk-in device of claim19, wherein the extracted information is overlayed on the imagescaptured using augmented reality (AR) technology.
 22. The walk-in deviceof claim 19, wherein the display device is a display of the walk-indevice.